New Damage Variable in Failure Analysis of Concrete

Abstract

Cracking, i.e. material separation at the moment of fracture, is inherently an irreversible process and, hence, is synonymous with material damage. In failure analysis of concrete at increasing applied load, the degree of irreversibility, i.e. material damage, must be capable of being readily quantified by experimentally measurable or mathematically defined quantities. This paper shows the development of a new damage variable to analyze the failure process of a body concrete material, which has an aspect ratio of 2.5, at monotonic uniaxial compression up to the peak load carrying capacity, σ